A Fine Pair
by jackandjill2
Summary: Alice knows her zoo... what she doesn't know is the surprise her boss has in store for her. I'm pretty sure this is the first Alice-centered story!


I wrote this for my Creative Writing class, as a "romantic short story". I had made some changes (Alice's name was Allison, Julien was black-furred, and Skipper was the "skinny penguin" instead of the "flat-headed penguin"). Chad is the name I gave to Alice's coworker that we never see the face of.

Enjoy!

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When it came to her zoo, there were plenty of things only Alice McAfferty knew about. She knew the grey lemur liked dancing to rock music - she hated that music, but played it anyway since the crowds liked how he danced to it. She knew the flat-headed penguin was afraid of needles - not only that, but would use force when confronted with them, so Alice started having the vet give him oral meds instead, except when absolutely necessary. She knew about the elephant's hatred of high-pitched noises and how the otter preferred her oysters whole instead of on the half-shell.

She was the zookeeper at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. She liked her job, too -well, the animals at least. The only thing she didn't like was the people - endless questions from people too lazy or stupid to read the signs pointing to the direction of which animal they wanted to see, or the children's tour groups that threw spitballs at her and never listened to what she was required to say. She'd never been very good with people - that's why she was a zookeeper. The animals kept her sane.

Early one warm June day, Alice was called into her boss's office. At first, she had no idea why - then she remembered the other day, when one of the monkeys went completely loco and made a swipe at some kid - hey, it wasn't the chimp's fault! The stupid kid was throwing empty peanut shells into the habitat and the chimp in question was quite the neat freak. But still, what if the kid's parents had complained? If they'd told management the chimp had tried to hurt their child, she could lose her job!

Summoning up all her courage, Alice knocked on her boss's door three times after receiving the call to come down to his office. She heard Mr. Johnson's deep voice call out, "Come in!"

She took a deep breath and opened the door. When she stepped inside, she saw that there was already someone else there (besides Mr. Johnson) - a young man with dark curly hair and dull green eyes.

"Ah, Miss McAfferty, come inside!" Mr. Johnson said warmly, waving her inside and gesturing to a chair beside the man.

"Hello, Mr. Johnson." Alice said nervously. She sat down in the proffered chair.

"Now, Alice, I suppose you're wondering why I called you down this morning." Mr. Johnson starting, folding his hands and looking at her from across his mahogany desk, "You see, we got a call the other day from a parent saying one of our monkeys had attempted to harm his son that day-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson, it's just that the child was throwing peanut shells into the habitat and that chimp has a thing for cleanliness, I couldn't get there fast enough-" Alice interrupted. Mr. Johnson raised his hand, stopping her. The man beside her visibly held back a smile - Alice glared. Who was this guy, anyway?

"I understand, Alice." Mr. Johnson continued. "I understand that you can't be everywhere at once. You do a wonderful job at what you do, but I think you may need some help."

Help?

"What are you saying, Mr. Johnson?" Alice asked.

"I've hired another zookeeper to help run the zoo - with four eyes instead of two on duty, we might be able to avoid another incident."

Alice blinked. "Another… zookeeper? But… who?"

Mr. Johnson gestured to the young man. The man held out his hand politely.

"I'm Chad. Chad Donovan." He said. "It's nice to meet you."

Alice's jaw hung open. A partner? She had enough on her hands with the animals, now she had to look after some newbie too? He didn't know the animals like she did - no one did, or could. What if he tried the whole needle-thing with the flat-headed penguin? The last time the vet had tried that, he'd been found unconscious on the white, sterile linoleum, remembering nothing about why, save for a flash of black and white. Alice didn't take that lightly - but this guy would, since he hadn't seen it happen. This new guy would prove to be a danger to himself and others. Just watch.

Nevertheless, she was in the presence of her boss and needed to be civil. Alice shook hands and said in a fake, welcoming voice, "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Alice."

"Excellent!" Mr. Johnson exclaimed. "Now, Miss McAfferty, over these next few days you are to show Mr. Donovan around the zoo and tell him everything he needs to know about your animals and everything else your job entails. Got it?"

"Yes, Mr. Johnson." Alice said robotically.

"Good. Now, back to work." Mr. Johnson said. Alice left the office, with Chad following right at her heels.

"I'm really very excited to be here." Chad said. "I studied zoology during college and didn't really get a good job using my degree till now, and I graduated five years ago."

Alice stopped listening at that point. She'd graduated with the same Zoology degree seven years ago, and had immediately started working at the Sheppard Zoo afterwards as a freaking _pooper-scooper._ She'd worked hard to get where she was now, and suddenly this guy comes and is immediately hired as a co-zookeeper right off the bat? That was… wrong. So wrong.

He talked and talked, while Alice walked to the golf cart she used to get around with. He talked as they both took a seat and drove all the way across the zoo to the kangaroo exhibit to start her daily morning routine.

She finally snapped. "Dude… could you just… be quiet already?"

Chad stopped talking for a minute, then said, "Sorry - I talk a lot when I'm nervous."

"No kidding." Alice muttered.

"I mean, this is my first job-" Chad started.

Alice interrupted him. "Yeah. You already said that." She unlocked the northern storage units where the food for animals kept in that wing of the zoo was stored.

"What are we doing first?" Chad said eagerly.

Alice cringed at his use of the plural pronoun.

"I got to feed the animals and check on them. I usually start with Joey - the kangaroo." She pulled a pitchfork off its hook on the wall and tossed it to Chad. If he was here, he was going to work.

"Pick up one of those piles of hay and put it on the cart."

He eagerly did so, but stumbled a little upon actually picking up one of the piles.

"These things are heavier than they look!" he gasped.

Alice smirked. "Welcome to the world of zoo work."

Alice showed no mercy that day. She made Chad clean out every habitat, feed every animal, and, just to freak him out, "accidentally" locked him in the habitat of the same chimp that tried to take out the rude kid. He was perfectly safe, despite the shrieks - the chimps were actually very friendly as long as you cleaned up after yourself.

She had to admit - the guy had potential. He took everything Alice dished out on him without complaint - except for that remark at the kangaroo's, but that had been more of an observation than an actual complaint. He clearly loved the animals - he was always asking to know more about them, and didn't laugh when Alice told him something others would consider weird, such as the lemur's musical preference. He did smile when she informed him about the flat-headed penguin's forceful aversion to needles - which she' had to admit, was a pretty funny story.

Near the middle of the day, Alice found out the real reason he'd been hired: Chad was great at talking to people (he certainly didn't have a shortage of words) and would take over the majority of tours and questions from the zoo-goers so that Alice would have an easier time paying attention to the zoo-dwellers. He was subtracting the only part of a zookeeper's job that Alice hated! Score!

Chad's friendly and polite manner continued to show throughout his first week, and Alice found herself liking him more and more. He had a certain charisma that one couldn't help but like and feel happier around - which was probably how he'd gotten the job so quickly, Alice realized, and she'd had to work harder. Maybe it was better that way.

About two weeks after Chad had started, Alice got an email from Mr. Johnson, telling her to be expecting a new delivery for the Reptile House - a poison dart frog. Alice froze - anything with the word _poison _in it was her greatest fear. Just the thought that any animal had the capability to make her or anyone else deadly sick by mere touch was terrifying to her. But the frog had to come - not only had the big shots already paid for it, but it was a frequent request from visitors (mainly young boys), so it would boost visitor rates.

She figured she could ask Chad to deliver it to the Reptile House, but the delivery truck arrived first thing the next morning before she and Chad could even start the morning rounds. Since she was more experienced, she had to take care of the delivery why Chad did the food rounds.

Alice was scared out of her pants. When she took a look at the specimen, she saw that the only thing separating her and that frog covered in toxic poisons was a thin glass jar! That wouldn't do. Not at all. Alice quickly ran back to a very special storage unit, and soon returned to the truck wearing a full-body orange sanitation suit, complete with head gear and a glass face mask to see through.

Chad worried for her - he knew how much Alice feared that frog. He paused in the golf cart for a minute, then picked up his radio and called her up.

"You doin' okay, Alice?" he asked.

Her voice buzzed back through the radio. "Yeah - I'm o-okay." She sounded scared.

"Alright, just be careful." He replied. He knew she wouldn't get hurt - she was too smart for that - but maybe she'd felt better if he sympathized a little.

"I am being careful!" she said indignantly. "I am being extra-super careful."

Chad wondered what that meant.

Alice continued. "I am now entering the Reptile House…" about half a minute passed, "I am now releasing the specimen… I am now… getting my sweet patooty out of here!" she nearly screamed.

Chad, hearing this, figured the elephant could wait with his hay for a few minutes, and stepped on the gas. He drove towards the Reptile House, and saw Alice sitting on a bench, a healthy distance away from the House and its poisonous frog. She was shaking a little and was pale as a ghost.

Chad stopped the golf cart and slowly walked closer to her. He sat next to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded wordlessly. Chad extended his arm and pulled her closer into a hug.

"You know…" Chad said. "You're a great zookeeper - taking care of that frog like that… if it were a hawk or something, I don't think I could have done it."

Alice looked up at him. "Hawk?"

"Yeah… have you seen the talons on those things? Anything with claws that large scares the crap out of me!"

Alice smiled. "A fine pair of zookeepers we are… one afraid of poisonous things, one of most birds of prey…!"

Chad smiled back, chuckling a little. Alice looked up at him. He had a nice smile, she decided. Chad looked down at her, and their eyes met.

"You have pretty eyes…" Chad said a little shyly. "They're… blue."

Alice blushed - the curse of being red-headed - as she said her thanks. Alice really like how his arm felt around her. She leaned a little closer, and also had a burst of surprise when she felt his lips hiss her hair. They both tensed up, especially Chad.

"I'm sorry!" he sputtered. "I… uh…"

She laughed - he was the one blushing now. "It's okay." she said, still smiling. "Seriously, it's okay."

Chad sighed, relieved. They eyes locked together again, and they leaned in closer…

Simultaneously, their watches beeped loudly, making them jump. It was time to open the zoo. They both laughed loudly.

"Do you want to go to dinner with me tonight?" Chad asked as the two of them went to unlock the doors.

"Sure." Alice answered. A fine pair of zookeepers they were, indeed.

* * *

"Untouchable" is one of my favorite episodes, and I love Alice at the beginning, I wanted to give a reason as to why she was so scared.

Review!


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